The Evolution of Power Technologies: The Beginning
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2019.2.395Keywords:
power; state; sovereignty; power apparatus; technology of powerAbstract
This article considers the historical patterns behind the evolution of power technologies, demonstrating that it is essential to form a paradigm of domination and submission and establish an apparatus or “machine” of power to regulate society. Methodologically, the paper relies on the twentieth-century philosophical teachings (phenomenology, structuralism, etc.) of M. Foucault, L. Mumford, G. Marcel, A. Weber, E. Jünger, J.-F. Lyotard, and others. The emergence of the administration of society and the apparatus of power relates to an increase in power, predictability, and control. Gradually, due to the constant recurrence of management procedures, power becomes imperative and technologies of power become more elaborate. The development of any system implies a tendency towards a more complex structure and functions, saving labour, resources, and energy. This is accompanied by the rational institutionalisation of bodies of the “mega-machine” of power, with management activity becoming more specialised and expansive. The article demonstrates that relations of power emerge in society; gradually, the state as a peculiar political formation starts controlling processes underlying the implementation of political power. It is the state that becomes the most important component of the “mega-machine” of power, proclaiming itself as a protector of society and demanding complete submission. Elements of the sacral and magical which make it possible for one person or a few people to manipulate the behavior of others are originally inherent to relations of power, dominance, and submission, which helps overcome social chaos. The state also uses these elements.
References
Bataille, G. (1995). Psikhologicheskaya struktura fashizma [The Psychological Structure of Fascism]. In Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie. No. 13, pp. 80–102.
Foucault, M. (2005). Nuzhno zashchishchat’ obshchestvo: Kurs lektsii, prochitannykh v Kollezh de Frans v 1975–1976 uchebnom godu [We Need to Protect Society. A Lecture Series Delivered at the Collège de France between 1978 and 1979]. St Petersburg, Nauka. 312 p.
Foucault, M. (2006). Sub”ekt i vlast’ [The Subject and Power]. In Foucault, M. Intellektualy i vlast’: Izbrannye politicheskie stat’i, vystupleniya i interv’yu / transl. by B. M. Skuratov, ed. by V. P. Bol’shakov. Moscow, Praksis. Part 3, pp. 161–191.
Foucault, M. (2010). Rozhdenie biopolitiki: Kurs lektsii, prochitannykh v Kollezh de Frans v 1978–1979 uchebnom godu [The Birth of Biopolitics. A Lecture Series Delivered at the Collège de France between 1978 and 1979] / transl. by A. V. D’yakov. St Petersburg, Nauka. 448 p.
Foucault, M. (2011). Bezopasnost’, territoriya, naselenie: Kurs lektsii, prochitannykh v Kollezh de Frans v 1977–1978 uchebnom godu [Security, Territory, Population. A Lecture Series Delivered at the Collège de France between 1978 and 1979] / transl. by. V. Yu. Bystrov, N. V. Suslov, A. V. Shestakov. St Petersburg, Nauka, 544 p.
Jünger, E. (2006). Cherez liniyu [Over the Line]. In Sud’ba nigilizma: E. Jünger, M. Heidegger, D. Kamper, G. Figal / transl. by G. Khaidarova. St Petersburg, Izdatel’stvo Sankt-Peterburgskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. 222 p.
Lenoir, R. (1999). Sotsial’naya vlast’ publichnogo vystupleniya [The Social Power of Public Speaking]. In Poetika i politika. Al’manakh Rossiisko-Frantsuzskogo tsentra sotsiologii i filosofii Instituta sotsiologii Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Moscow, Aleteiya. 350 p.
Lyotard, J.-F. (2008). Postmodern v izlozhenii dlya detei. Pis’ma: 1982–1985 [The Postmodern Explained: Correspondence, 1982–1985] / transl. and ed. by A. V. Garadzha. Moscow, Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi gumanitarnyi universitet. 145 p.
Marcel, G. (2018). Lyudi protiv chelovecheskogo [People vs. the Human] / transl. by V. P. Vizgin. Moscow, Tsentr gumanitarnykh initsiativ. 208 p.
Mumford, L. (2001). Mif mashiny. Tekhnika i razvitie chelovechestva [The Myth of the Machine. Technology and Human Development] / transl. by. T. Azarkovich, B. Skuratov. Moscow, Logos. 408 p.
Weber, A. (1998). Proshchanie s prezhnei istoriei [Farewell to the Old History]. In Weber, A. Izbrannoe: Krizis evropeiskoi kul’tury. St Petersburg, Universitetskaya kniga, pp. 375–538.
